Samuel D. High
sdhigh@aristotle.net
-----Original Message-----
From: Lynn Smith <lynn824@cebridge.net>
Sent: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 15:02:58 -0500
To: Recipient list suppressed:;
Subject: Morning Manna (June 19); June 19: BP: Is. 55; RBTTY: Acts
June 19
“For you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree. And, it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
We don’t have to wait until we go to Heaven to experience these.
When you awoke this morning, dear Pilgrim, what was on your mind? Did you say, “Good morning, Lord!” or did you mumble/grumble, “Good Lord, another morning”?
Was your heart heavy and your pillow soaked with tears? Or, did arise with “morning joy” (Ps. 30:5), confident that “the day’s worth the living just because He lives”?
So often our eternal hope is diminished by our earthly hurts. As someone said, “We become so earthly-minded that we’re no Heavenly-good.” So true, so true. That’s why it’s important that we “cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity EVERY THOUGHT to the obedience of Christ” (II Cor. 10:5).
Only then can we “go out with joy and be led forth with peace.” Only then will we hear “the mountains and the hills breaking forth before us into singing and all the trees of the field clapping their hands” unto the Lord.
Suddenly, instead of seeing a tree as little more than roots, bark and boughs, we’ll suddenly view it as an “instrument of praise.” Instead of hearing the breeze rushing through the leaves, we’ll feel the Breath of God and hear the Heavenly choir’s anthem of praise wafting unto us on the wind.
Likewise, instead of looking at things “as they are”i.e., as a barren, thorn-infested, briar patch of fruitlessness and suffering we catch a glimpse of our Lord’s creative power to turn “nothing” into “something.” Instead of focusing on the temporal, we look through eternal eyes and see “the lame man leaping as a hart and the tongue of the dumb singing. And in the wilderness we see the waters breaking forth as streams in the desert” (Is. 35:6). Hallelujah!!
How long has it been, Pilgrim, since you felt “joy unspeakable and full of glory” (I Pet. 1:8) rising up within you? How long has it been since you’ve experienced “His indescribably delicious peace and knew all was well with your soul” (Phil. 4:8)? How long has it been since you’ve wanted to break out in a song of praise when no one was around? Or how long has it been since you’ve wanted to stand, clap your hands and shout “Amen and amen!” when you think of God’s precious promises (II Cor. 1:18-20)?
May the Holy Spirit renew us in mind, body and soul today as we “cast on Him all our cares knowing He cares for us” (I Pet. 5:7). And, in so doing, may we remember where He brought us from and know He is faithful (Ps. 40:1-3; Joel 2:25-26; Phil. 1:6).
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